The One I Love

Hit the reset button.

The One I Love is the sort of film that
prompts critics to fill their reviews with warnings of spoilers and
hammy pronouncements that “to reveal more would spoil the fun.” That
overstates how tricksy the film is, but Charlie McDowell’s debut feature
is still a delightful little brainteaser. Ethan (mumblecore stalwart
Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss) are an
unhappily married couple trying to rekindle their passion during a
weekend getaway at a countryside house. But after the first night—he
pours the red wine adorably, she lights the joint, they giggle and toss
grapes into each other’s mouths—they realize their memories don’t align.
Sophie swears they had spectacular sex. Ethan maintains he passed out
on the couch. Ethan declares it “some fuckin’ weird Twilight Zone shit,” but the two decide to flirt with this cosmically aberrant world. That, of course, stirs pain and resentment, but The One I Love
never goes full-tilt melodrama. Even as it poses familiar
questions—about trust, about the breakdown of communication, about how
we alter ourselves for our lovers’ benefit—it balances playful charm and
eerie tension. Much of the credit goes to Duplass and Moss, who
improvised about half of the dialogue and deftly navigate subtle shifts
in their performances. Moss, in particular, is a master at ever so
slightly tweaking her facial expression to convey emotion, insult and
revelation.